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Contact Info

References

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Laura Jane Graham

I am a computational/spatial ecologist interested in understanding how anthropogenic changes such as climate and land-use change affect global ecosystems, and how this in turn affects human well-being. I am particularly interested in using novel statistical methods and heterogeneous sources of data to answer applied and theoretical questions. I was previously a mathematician and database developer, and apply skills learned there to answer ecological questions.

My PhD research focussed on applying metapopulation models to urban planning problems; particularly in the context of the ecological impact assessment. I then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Stony Brook University NY, where I was modelling impacts of environmental change on hummingbird distributions and movements.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Spatial Modelling at University of Southampton. My current research is focussed on finding general scaling rules for ecosystem service mapping to understand how land use and policy changes may affect the provision of ecosystem services.

Research Experience

Research Fellow in Spatial Modelling

University of Southampton

Southampton, UK

2016 - Present

Working on the ERC funded project ‘SCALEFORES: Developing a science of scale for ecosystem services’

PI: Felix Eigenbrod

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Stony Brook University

New York, USA

2015 - 2016

Working on the NASA funded project ‘Combining time-series data, ecology and physiology to predict the consequences of climate change on hummingbird diversity’

PI: Catherine Graham

Research Assistant

EU OpenNESS Project

Nottingham, UK

2014

Literature reviews of the connections between natural capital/ecosystem services and macroeconomic competitiveness, and of the state of the field of adaptive management.

Professional Experience

Data Analyst

Experian Ltd.

Nottingham, UK

2007 - 2010

Data analysis, processing and statistical analysis for development and maintenance of core Business Strategies databases and products. I combined socio-demographic and locational data with retail data into reports and analyses to enable my clients to make business decisions.

Teaching & Supervision

Nathan Fox, SPITFIRE PhD

University of Southampton

Southampton, UK

2017 - Present

Thesis title: The applications for geodiversity as a proxy measure of other environmental variables.

Primary Supervisor: Kate Parks. CASE funding: James Bullock, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

Statistics and Programming

University of Southampton

Southampton, UK

2017 - Present

I have developed and delivered statistics and programming materials for the following courses:

  • Skills and Project work for GIS MSc
  • Data Collection and Research Methods for Sustainability MSc
  • Programming for GIS and Spatial Analyses MSc
  • Spatial analysis workshop for ADVENT students PhD

I also provided informal support for masters dissertation projects.

Laura Gambino, MA Ecology

Stony Brook University

New York, USA

2016 - 2017

Thesis title: North American hummingbird species distribution and richness in relation to the phenology of plant resources.

Primary Supervisor: Catherine Graham

Software Carpentry Instructor

Teaching coding skills to scientists.

N/A

2015 - Present

I have run workshops at the New York Academy of Sciences and assisted a workshop at Stony Brook University.

Gillian Benson, MSc Environmental Management

University of Nottingham

Nottingham, UK

2015

Thesis title: Testing downscaling methods for woodland bird species.

Primary Supervisor: Richard Field

Teaching Assistant

University of Nottingham

Nottingham, UK

2011 - 2014

I have provided teaching support for the following modules:

  • Interpreting Geographical Data First year undergraduate statistics
  • Digital Explorers Second year undergraduate GIS
  • Geographical Research Methods Masters level statistics
  • Professional GIS Masters level GIS
  • Lake District Field Trip First year undergraduate field course. I developed and delivered a one day activity for this module
  • Tutorial Groups First year undergraduate tutorial groups on biodiversity and ecosystem services

I also provided informal support for undergraduate and masters dissertation projects.

Online Facilitator

FutureLearn

N/A

2013 - 2014

I provided facilitation support for massive online open courses:

  • Sustainability, Society and You
  • Shale Gas and Fracking: the politics and science.

Education

PhD Geography

University of Nottingham

Nottingham, UK

2011 - 2015

Thesis title: Strengthening urban landscape planning: a metapopulation modelling framework

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

The central argument of my PhD research was that ecological impact assessment needs to be done at a landscape scale. To this end, I examined how metapopulation modelling can be used to perform such an assessment and used my methods to compare urban planning scenarios. This research required me to work at the science–policy interface.

Supervisors: Prof. Roy Haines-Young & Dr. Richard Field

Examiners: Prof. Jon Sadler, Dr. Adam Algar

MSc Environmental Management

University of Nottingham

Nottingham, UK

2010 - 2011

Distinction

Thesis title: An Assessment of the suitability of the Incidence Function Model for use in planning and assessing Environmental Stewardship Schemes

Modules included Ecosystem Services & Human Well-being, Foundations in Environmental Management, Frameworks for Environmental Management, Research Methods, Fundamentals of GIS, Geocomputation.

BSc Mathematics

University of Southampton

Southampton, UK

2002 - 2005

First Class Honours

Modules taken focussed on pure mathematics and statistics.

Grants Obtained

ESRC PhD Studentship

How Effective Are Environmental Stewardship Schemes with Regards to Wildlife Conservation?

N/A

2011

£54,216 for fees, maintenance and research training grant

Publications

An analytical framework for spatially targeted management of natural capital

Nature Sustainability, 2, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0223-4

N/A

2019

Spake R, Bellamy C, Graham LJ, Watts K, Wilson T, Norton L, Wood C, Schmucki R, Bullock JM, Eigenbrod F

Spatial models of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotope distributions (isoscapes) across a shelf sea: an INLA approach

Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 0, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13138

N/A

2019

St John Glew K, Graham LJ, MgGill RAR, Trueman, CN

The incidence function model as a tool for landscape-scale ecological impact assessments

Landscape and Urban Planning, 170, 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.10.008

N/A

2018

Graham LJ, Haines-Young RH, Field R

Future geographic patterns of novel and disappearing assemblages across three dimensions of diversity: A case study with Ecuadorian hummingbirds

Diversity and Distributions, 23, 944–954. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12587

N/A

2017

Graham LJ, Weinstein BG, Supp SR, Graham CH

Metapopulation modelling of long-term urban habitat-loss scenarios

Landscape Ecology, 32, 989–1003. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0504-0

N/A

2017

Graham LJ, Haines-Young RH, Field R

Strengthening urban landscape planning: a metapopulation modelling framework

In Urban Landscape Ecology: Science, Policy and Practice. Routledge.

N/A

2016

Graham LJ, Haines-Young RH, Field R

Using citizen science data for conservation planning: methods for quality control and downscaling for use in stochastic patch occupancy modelling

Biological Conservation, 192, 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.09.002

N/A

2015

Graham LJ, Haines-Young RH, Field R

Where next for macroecology: citizen macroecology?

Frontiers of Biogeography. 6(1).

N/A

2014

Graham LJ, Bailey JJ, Algar AC, Field R

Presentations

Scale-dependency in drivers of outdoor recreation

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting (invited talk)

Birmingham, UK

2018

A spatial modelling framework for predicting the effects of landscape structure on ecosystem services

Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting (invited talk)

Portland, Oregon, USA

2017

Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional dimensions of no-analog assemblages

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting

Liverpool, UK

2016

How to do Reproducible Research in R

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting (invited workshop)

Liverpool, UK

2016

Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional dimensions of no-analog assemblages

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (invited seminar)

Oxford, UK

2016

How to do Reproducible Research in R

British Ecological Society Macroecology Meeting (invited panel discussion)

Oxford, UK

2016

Metapopulation modelling of long-term urban habitat-loss scenarios

European Ecosystem Services Conference

Antwerp, Belguim

2016

Quantitative landscape-scale ecological impact assessment: a method using the incidence function model

EU Macro

Copenhagen, Denmark

2015

Metapopulation modelling of long-term urban habitat-loss scenarios

Joint Annual Meeting BES and SFE

Lille, France

2014

Quantitative landscape-scale ecological impact assessment: a method using the incidence function model

IALE UK Annual Conference

London, UK

2014

Hanski’s incidence function model for urban biodiversity planning

INTECOL Annual Meeting

London, UK

2013

Workshops

UN-FAO SES Expert Workshop

Applying social-ecological system frameworks to improve sustainable land-use and enhance resilient agro-food systems under water scarcity

Rome, Italy

2018

sLandserv: Linking Landscape Structure to Ecosystem Services

sDiv Synthesis Centre for Biodiversity Sciences

Leipzig, Germany

2017 - 2018

Academic Service

Applications Associate Editor

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

N/A

2019 - Present

Associate Editor

People and Nature

N/A

2018 - Present

Publications Committee Member

British Ecological Society

N/A

2018 - Present

British Ecological Society Quantitative Ecology Special Interest Group

Secretary (since 2018) & Blogmaster (2015 - 2018)

N/A

2015 - Present

Peer Review

N/A

N/A

2014 - Present

  • Biological Conservation
  • Diversity and Distributions
  • Ecography
  • Ecological Informatics
  • Functional Ecology
  • Global Change Biology
  • Global Ecology and Biogeography
  • Journal of Animal Ecology
  • Journal of Biogeography
  • Landscape Ecology
  • Methods in Ecology and Evolution
  • Oikos
  • PeerJ
  • Plos One
  • Sustainability
  • Wilson Journal of Ornithology

I am also a member of the British Ecological Society Review College